Kifaya Echoes in Egypt and Lebanon

William Safire writes in the New York Times magazine about words, and he picked up on a new one floating around Egypt.

The country is ruled by a dictator named Hosni Mubarak. He wants his son to replace him, and the Egyptians are finally saying “Enough!” There was a protest last month with more than 500 activists who demonstrated against the regime. They changed the words to the Egyptian national anthem from “My country, my country, my country, you have my loyalty and love, to “kifaya, kifaya, kifaya!, Arabic for “We have reached the end!”

In Beirut, more demonstations were taking place. There protesters were also using this word, but to them it was simply “enough,” to Syria’s domination of their political system. It is, as Safire writes, “the peaceful battle cry of the fed-up, the one word slogan of the long frustrated. Kifaya, indeed!